RCB slumped to a massive 81-run defeat to KKR on Thursday at the Eden Gardens. Chasing a big target of 205 runs, RCB got off to a quickfire start with Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis smashing 44 runs in 4.4 overs
However, Kohli’s dismissal by Sunil Narine on the 5th ball of the 5th over triggered RCB’s collapse and they were eventually all out for 123.
The KKR spin trio comprising mystery spinners Sunil Narine and Varun Chakaravarthy along with young leg-spinner Suyash Sharma took 9 of the 10 RCB wickets.
Sunil Narine bamboozled Kohli with a peach before Chakaravarthy dismissed Faf du Plessis. With both the openers back in the hut, the other RCB batters couldn’t cope with the pressure of a tall run-chase and the deadly mystery spin duo and succumbed to the KKR bowlers.
To an off-spinner from Sunil Narin, Virat Kohli planted his front foot forward and looked to work it on the leg-side, but the ball turn big and sharper than Kohli had anticipated. It beat the inside edge and went through the bat-pad gap of Virat Kohli and knocked over the off-stump which then lay flat on the ground.
Watch: Sunil Narine knocks over Virat Kohli’s off-stump:
Earlier, Faf du Plessis had won the toss and elected to field first. His move was vindicated by David Willey, who dismissed Venkatesh Iyer and Mandeep Singh on consecutive deliveries in the 4th over. Bracewell and Karn Sharma then struck to have KKR in trouble at 89/5 before Shardul Thakur and Rinku Singh delivered a stunning counter-attack with a jaw-dropping partnership of 103 (47) to propel KKR’s total over 200.
RCB captain Faf du Plessis lamented the poor show with the ball in allowing Thakur and Rinku to get away with their monstrous partnership. He also hailed Narine and Chakraverthy for their superb bowling.
“We had set it up nicely with the ball, probably at 100/5 around 13 overs, we kind of gave away 20-25 runs extra on that wicket. Shardul played incredibly well, he took the game away from us and KKR’s leg-spinners bowled brilliantly. They got on top of us, with Narine and Chakaravarthy, they put the squeeze on us really well. Because that’s the nature of leg spinners or mystery spinners,” Faf said.
